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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

BGT Dog swap

69 replies

Sallystyle · 01/06/2015 22:15

Show faces potential Ofcom probe after viewers complain that winner Matisse was replaced with a stunt double during ITV show’s finale

Britain’s Got Talent producers have apologised for not making it clearer that the winning act – a dog called Matisse – was substituted for a lookalike in the high-wire stunt that helped the animal and its owner win the talent competition

www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2015/jun/01/britains-got-talent-producers-sorry-for-switched-dogs-in-final

Are people being unreasonable to complain that she/they unfairly won the competition?

OP posts:

littleostrich · 02/06/2015 14:18

I could see straight away that it was a different dog on the tight rope - we'd already seen him during the semi final, and he's a different colour! I don't see how it makes a difference really, he's still her dog and she still trained him.

wannaBe · 02/06/2015 14:24

I think all the outrage over the dog says a lot more about the outraged than the dog.....

She trained the dogs. not one, but two. easy? I don't bloody think so.

I have a highly trained dog. He can guide me around obstacles/find doors/steps/trains/buses. Could he walk a tightrope? err no. can I train him to walk on to an escalator like so many guide dogs can be trained to do? err no. He stops dead in front of it and I have to lift all 65 lb of him on there myself.

it takes skill and dedication to train dogs like the ones in that act, and even then there are no guarantees because you are working with animals who are unpredictable. cruel? why? the dog does it because he wants to. if he didn't, he wouldn't.

And i give it a year before we read about the magician's torid affair with one of the other acts or similar.......

Owllady · 02/06/2015 14:39

Wanna be, she trains guide dogs too!

MiaowTheCat · 02/06/2015 16:15

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

PuppyMonkey · 02/06/2015 16:32

I also thought the magician was terrible. Apparently a quick search on YouTube shows how the lemon trick was done. And the bit in the semi when Simon asked who'd written "helicopter" - and nobody had. Cringe. So set up.

The dog woman deserved it (although she should have just kept her mouth shut on lorraine)

00100001 · 02/06/2015 16:51

TiggyD · 02/06/2015 16:55

Hope people complained about all the 'cheating' magicians as well.

SoupDragon · 02/06/2015 17:05

Wanna be, she trains guide dogs too!

Let's hope she doesn't get mixed up and train a guide dog to walk a tightrope.

SoupDragon · 02/06/2015 17:08

I don't see how it makes a difference really, he's still her dog and she still trained him.

If it doesn't make a difference, why the subterfuge? She must have thought it would be somehow better to appear to have one dog and not make it clear there were two.

hedgehogsdontbite · 02/06/2015 17:20

I think whether it makes a difference depends on how a person is judging the act. Are they voting for it because they're impressed by her dog training skills or are they voting because they're impressed by the dog's skill? If I were in the latter group and had paid to vote I'd be pissed off. But I'm not as I'm too tight to vote.

Owllady · 02/06/2015 17:27

I don't know how you can get so het up about it :o it's supposed to be a light hearted entertainment show!

I don't think she actively fooled anyone did she? She certainly never came across as a manipulative character and nor has she since

Owllady · 02/06/2015 17:30

I actually think it's a semantics issue. I think she entered the competition with her one dog and the program makers wouldn't let her change the name of the 'act'

SoupDragon · 02/06/2015 17:48

I'm not het up about it at all. I didn't even watch it. I find it interesting because the people who voted for the trainer and Matisse were mislead about who they were voting for. Would it have made a difference? If not, why hide it and if it would make a difference then it's wrong to have done it. If the voting was close, as I think has been sId, could it have changed the result? I think it was a bad decision not to be transparent about the fact that there was more than one dog.

She actively kept the second dog "secret" from the audience - the second dog was only known about because it slipped out in an interview. I doubt it's anything to do with the name of the act. Clearly the production crew etc would have known there was another dog.

Owllady · 02/06/2015 17:54

People knew there was more than one dog though as there were two in the semi final. I think if it had of been such an issue it should have been raised at that point.

I think Simon Cowell shock and the sun newspapers backlash is disingenuous

GatoradeMeBitch · 02/06/2015 18:30

Does anyone here throw their money away on the voting lines? It amazes me that people do that. When I was visiting family in the States, American Idol was on, and the voting lines were free...

littleostrich · 02/06/2015 18:52

SoupDragon, it didn't 'slip out' in an interview - she took all of her dogs onto Lorraine Kelly's show and spoke freely about the act. She wasn't hiding anything, to be fair to her. I guess it was just confusing to people who hadn't watched the semi final.

ForalltheSaints · 02/06/2015 19:23

Perhaps Sepp Blatter could investigate, as he is going to have more time on his hands.

MrsToddsShortcut · 02/06/2015 20:45

Can someone explain the outrage about the magician and the tricks and the not getting through to the final stuff? I don't understand!

Surely we all know that it's not real magic, that it's trickery and misdirection and that he doesn't really magic helicopters via psychic link? Don't we?

PuppyMonkey · 02/06/2015 20:49

The kids voted on the app and that was free.

I'm outraged about the magician because he was so shit boring.

The dogs, not so much.

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